With most of the featured VoIP services, you can check your voicemail from
any web browser in the world? Or, messages can automatically be sent right to
your email account. Imagine being able to check your voicemail at the same time
as you check your email. That's cool!

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.
While this may sound confusing, it simply means using your internet connection
to carry your phone service. The quality is as good as or better than
traditional phone providers, and much more advanced due to all the new features
and technology. But, best of all, it's much less expensive than old-fashioned
phone providers!

You simply connect your broadband Internet connection to the phone adapter
that is provided to you by the VoIP provider you choose, and then connect your
telephone to the phone adapter. When you make
calls, your voice is routed through the adapter to the internet. You can't tell that you're talking over the
internet, and the person you're talking to can't tell, either. The only things
you notice are the clarity of the call and all the great features that come with
the service. Oh, and the reduced phone bill is hard to miss, too!

Yes! You'll save a TON of money over your traditional phone service. As a
rule, VoIP is much cheaper than traditional phone services. This is not just
because of the cost-effectiveness of using the Internet to route phone calls,
but also because of current government legislation that favors Internet phone
companies. Recent changes by the FCC mean that individual states won't be able
to restrict VoIP companies since they are not classified as phone companies, and
this saves everyone money. And as the technology becomes
more mature, prices are expected to continue to fall.

All you need is a broadband internet connection (DSL or Cable) and the appropriate hardware as determined by the VoIP provider you choose, usually a phone adapter box provided by them and a standard network router supplied by you (contact your provider for assistance in selecting a compatible router,
and visit our router page to buy one at a great online price). Once you receive the hardware from your provider, youíll simply follow simple instructions to hook it all up. Once
everything is connected properly, youíll be up and running.

Probably not. Because of the way satellite internet works, there are delays
in data transmission as the data travels into space, and then back to earth. As
a result, satellite internet doesn't mix well with VoIP, as voice calls end up
being delayed, kind of like international calls sounded 20 years ago.

That depends. Most VoIP customers do indeed give up their normal phone lines once they have their new Internet phones active, for lots of reasons. First, the savings most people enjoy by replacing their normal phone lines with an Internet phone are considerable, and increase even more when the savings from long distance and international call rates are considered. Second, the features most Internet phones offer are remarkable Ė most of which normal phone providers canít even come close to offering. There is a downside to an Internet phone, however. Because the system relies completely on your broadband connection (and therefore, electricity) in order to function, the system wonít function in the event of a power failure. The standard telephone line, by contrast, doesnít require electricity to run, so it will always work in the event of a power failure. These days, however, most people own mobile phones, so thereís usually a backup phone to use if the Internet phone is down.

Probably..Each VoIP provider offers numbers in lots of area codes, but not
all. You may find that your desired area code is offered by some providers, but
not by others. Check each provider for details.

Maybe. Most providers will assign you a number when your order is place, but
you won't get to choose it.
Sunrocket, however, offers a unique system where you'll get to choose your
number from a long list of about 40 - 60 numbers (and since Sunrocket offers a
free second, "virtual" number, you'll get to choose that one, too!).

Yes. Internet phone providers have spent millions of dollars on research and development and have fine-tuned their hardware and services so that their sound quality is indistinguishable from that of a regular phone. Consequently, most Internet phone customers canít tell the difference between their new Internet phone line and their old standard phone line. Because the Internet
phone relies on your Internet connection, it can occasionally experience some quality degradation if there are network problems from your Internet provider. This situation is rare, however, and most Internet phone services experience an extremely small amount of downtime and interference.

It depends. Getting fax service (and your Tivo, DirecTV boxes, etc.) to work
with VoIP has been a challenge for VoIP providers, because the technology was
originally fine tuned to work well with voices, not data. Some providers, such
as Viatalk and Vonage are already offering fax service on a separate line
(usually about $9.95 extra per month), and others are hard at work on a
solution, and promise to offer it soon. Many customers have reported success
with faxing on providers who don't yet "officially" offer fax service, like
Sunrocket. Remember, you can try out most services risk-free for 30 days and if
you're dissatisfied, simply cancel the service and return the hardware. You'll
owe nothing.

Probably. Many of our customers have successfully set up their VoIP
service to work on all the phone jacks in their house, but doing so takes a bit
of technical know how and is not for the faint-of-heart. You can learn about
this procedure and find instructions from this post in our
VoIP forum.
Before you attempt this procedure, keep in mind that we offer many mutli-handset
cordless phones for sale which offer the convenience of having a phone in every
room, and save you from any wiring confusion. Check our
equipment page for more
information on these fantastic cordless phone systems.

Depending on your provider, making calls isnít any different than what youíre already used to. Some providers require that you dial a Ď1í and the area code for every call, even if the call is local. Other providers permit standard 7-digit dialing for local calls within the same area code. International calls are made using the same dialing pattern as your normal phone. Whatever the requirements, youíll quickly become accustomed to the dialing requirements and love the savings and features.

All of them. Seriously. Most Internet phone services include just about every feature you can think of. Aside from the standard stuff, such as caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, and voicemail, there are lots of advanced features that you probably didnít even know you could get! Imagine having your voicemail messages forwarded to you as attachments in email messages - you can listen to your messages no matter where in the world you are. Imagine forwarding your calls to your mobile phone (or any number in the world) and paying virtually nothing for it. Imagine having a number with any area code you desire, no matter where in the country you live Ė you can now have local numbers for friends and family in other cities, and have the calls forwarded to your home phone in any city. Imagine having access to accurate logs of all calls placed and received, anytime you need them just by logging into your providerís website.

Nope. Your VoIP service only needs a high speed internet connection in order
to work - it doesn't need your computer (unless you're using a PC-based VoIP
service). In fact, you don't really even need a computer to use VoIP (you
will need one in order to visit your VoIP provider's webpage and log in to your
account to manage it). All you need to do is connect your VoIP adapter to your
internet connection (some providers require you to have a router, others don't),
and then connect a telephone to your VoIP adapter. Your computer has nothing to
do with it!

You can pretty much use any of them, subject to any usage laws in the country you're in. The catch is that most of the US-based VoIP providers we review on OrderVoIP.com will only ship to US addresses, and some of them may not process international-based credit cards (though you'll have to check with them about payment). However, many customers place an order and have the VoIP adapter shipped to a friend's US address, then have the equipment forwarded to the international destination. Once received, connect it directly to local high speed internet, plug in a telephone, and begin using the service. VoIP is ideal for people living outside of the US who need to keep in touch with friends or relatives in the states. One low monthly fee will provide unlimited calls from their international destination to the US, and will allow US-based callers to call you without any international calling charges. Keep in mind that some countries or internet providers may not allow access to VoIP, which will prevent you from using it in those areas. We recommend researching local laws prior to ordering any services.

Yep, definitely. Check our comparison chart to find out the length of each
provider's free trial. As soon as you receive your VoIP equipment, hook it up
and activate it so that you can maximize your free trial and see how great VoIP
is. Some providers impose a minute limitation for the free trial, so don't go
over your limit until you're sure you love it like we know you will. If for some
reason you decide to cancel, please contact the provider you ordered from
directly to set up the return.